The invention relates to torsion damping apparatus or assemblies, especially to torsion damping apparatus which can be installed between the internal combustion engine and the variable-speed or change-speed transmission of a motor vehicle to transmit torque between the input element of the transmission and the engine when the friction clutch of the vehicle is engaged. Somewhat similar torque transmitting and torsion damping apparatus are disclosed in commonly owned copending patent application Ser. No. 669,657 of Oswald Friedmann for "Torsion damping assembly for motor vehicles" as well as in several other pending patent applications of the assignee.
Torsion damping apparatus of the type to which the present invention pertains are often used in motor vehicles to compensate for and absorb angular shocks, especially to compensate for fluctuations of torque between the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine and the input element of the variable-speed transmission. Such torsion damping apparatus normally comprise a composite flywheel having several coaxial flywheels which are rotatable relative to each other against the opposition of one or more yieldable dampers, one of which receives torque from the engine and the other of which transmits torque to the transmission by way of a friction clutch. The damper or dampers can include energy storing elements in the form of coil springs, other types of springs and/or friction generating units.